Umbrellas Are Terrible, And These People Want To Make Them Better
It’s miserable outside, and you already hate your umbrella.
It broke. You lost it. It tracked water in your car. It’s so darn ugly.
Get ready to let go of your anger: The future of umbrellas has arrived. At least three designers around the world are reinventing rain protection, solving problems that seem inherent to the basic function of a device whose design has scarcely changed in more than a century.
Changes began in 1999, Greg Brebner was in London when he was nearly poked in the eye with an umbrella. Frustrated with his near injury, the design engineer decided to invent one without spokes.
A few years later, the Blunt was born.
A Blunt + Tile umbrella.
“Our umbrellas are aerodynamic,’’ CEO and co-founder Mark Duffin told Boston.com. “Our design transformed the design to feature smooth edges, but to also stands up to the conditions.’’
Its sleek, curved, spoke-less trim is not only less of a hazard once the wind whips—it looks pretty great, too.
This summer Blunt partnered with Tile, a Bluetooth tracking chip that’s a bit of a Kickstarter darling, to create a system so you’ll never leave your umbrella behind.
“People are always leaving umbrellas in taxis or bars,’’ Duffin said. “It just kept popping up as a reason. ‘Oh, we always lose our umbrella. And we don’t want to spend another $50 when we just keep losing it.’’’
Only about 10 percent of umbrella buyers are willing to pay more than $5 for an umbrella, he said.
The Tile chip connects to umbrella owners’ smartphones and signals them when it seems like umbrellas might be left behind. The umbrella’s $69 sticker price tag seems high, but it’s an investment in loss prevention.
Blunt has “smart umbrellas’’ in its sights next. “Say you had it at your house when you were about to leave,’’ said Duffin. “The umbrella will notify your smartphone, letting you know it’s going to rain today.’’
Sketching out the Sa umbrella.
Even more minimalist, the origami-inspired umbrella Sa, designed by the New York fashion company Nooka, operates without the traditional metal skeleton. Its shape is maintained by two canopies that expand and contract in unison; the lack of a skeleton allows for a bigger space underneath, too.
Those interested in hiding out under an origami-inspired shield can order one on Kickstarter. The umbrellas are scheduled to ship early next year, although Wired says the company is still deciding whether the final product will be made of laminated paper or polypropylene.
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And for those who trust absolutely in technology: Chinese inventor Chuan Wang has created a prototype Air Umbrella—as in, an invisible “umbrella’’ that repels water using air—and raised more than $10,000 to bring it to market sometime in 2015.
The Air Umbrella, which looks like an immersion blender—or, ahem, a female massage device—blows rain away from its owner in a way that creates a three-foot dry zone.
The Air Umbrella weighs just under two pounds and operates on a battery pack estimated to last 15-30 minutes per charge—not the best choice for a long stroll during a downpour. And forget bringing a friend on your walk. As Business Insider points out, “The ‘Air Umbrella’ spits drops all around like a furious camel.’’
Which makes us wonder: What would the streets of our city be like if everyone had Air Umbrellas during a downpour?
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